Sitting on the Curb in a Refugee Camp

I was sitting on a curb working on my script when a series of cute kids stopped by to see who had dropped into the neighborhood. This clip is a little of that interaction. It ends with a big brother coming in to shut me down. (I don’t blame him to be wary of some stranger filming little kids on the street.)

By the way, there’s a common image of Palestinian kids with toy guns shooting imaginary Jews. I saw lots of that, and it was a bit disturbing to me. But then, in the Jewish West Bank settlements, I also saw Jewish kids with plastic guns gunning down imaginary terrorists. And it occurred to me that, if we’re being honest, what American man today didn’t grow up with a toy gun happily shooting Indians or Soviets in their imagination? Whether it’s cowboys and Indians, Commies and Capitalists, or Jews and Palestinians, little boys throughout the world are raised with a toy gun in their hands to shoot their parents’ bad guys.

If you can’t see the video below, watch it on YouTube.

Comments

5 Replies to “Sitting on the Curb in a Refugee Camp”

  1. Rick, I loved seeing the children’s faces and hearing their laughter. Nice to know that children are children, even in the midst of the tragedy of a refugee camp. Also, I like your balanced comments about the children’s games. I have read that Palestinian children never have an opportunity to meet ordinary Israeli folks, but the only Israelis that they ever see are soldiers with guns. This is so sad. Building bridges between people, so that they can find common ground, is so important — and this is what you are working on, Rick! Thank you!

  2. Your bias against Israeli is amazing. You equate Israeli kids shooting “imaginary terrorists” with Palestinian kids shooting “imaginary terrorists.” The two approaches couldn’t be more different. Terrorizing people is by its nature an evil act; killing them is usually an act of self-defense. Killing Jews is justifiably called genocide. You spend too much time listening to Palestinians, and European leftists.

  3. Rick, just to let you know, the older brother didnt try to shut you down; he actually said (in Arabic): “speak to him” …. maybe because Palestinians are consistently vilified, they are desperate to be seen for what they really are. Normal humans like you. We do not have agression in our blood and in our beliefs, as it is often depicted (see LesLein’s post!), nor an intrinsic hate for jews and thirst for genocide (they lived among us peacefully, for the most part- and over the past 70 years who’s been killing who?), nor desparate for 70 virgins in the afterlife. What a mis-representation of reality we get in the Western press…

  4. Rather than saying ‘who’s been killing who?’ you should be saying ‘who’s been firing rockets at who?’ If the rockets were not fired there would not be the death toll that unfortunately arises from the defence process.

  5. LOUISE ~ After looking up Luddite, I ueatrsndnd your comment. While personally I always eschew violence, I do ueatrsndnd the point of the Luddite Movement and if we were in the 19th century, I might have peacefully espoused their cause. The loss of a job has devastating effects on the unemployed, their family and indeed all society.* * * In the 21st century, I truly enjoy new technologies, especially ones which facilitate connections between believers in SW! It connected us, Louise ~ all the way from the central coast of California to you in Canada! I love it!Amy-Lynne <

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